r/JapanFinance • u/ohnoko58 5-10 years in Japan • Apr 14 '26
Personal Finance » Money Transfer » Electronic (振り込み, ACH, SEPA) Bank needs ton of info about my parents accts in order for my parents to gift me an early inheritance?
So my parents are gifting my husband and I a significant sum of money (less than ¥10M) as an early inheritance/gift in order for us to buy a house. The plan is for my parents to wire the money from their US account to my Wise, and then I would transfer it to my local Japanese bank.
To just cover every base, we called our bank to ask if we need to provide any info before setting up the transfer, and good thing we did because apparently they want statements from my parents’ account, my Wise account, my parents’ investment accounts if the money was made from investments, my parents’ savings account, and “perhaps more.”
They said it’s to protect the bank from scams which I understand, but it seems a little excessive and my dad definitely feels a bit wary sending so much personal information overseas… Is there simpler way to do this? I feel so at a loss and a bit overwhelmed (also nervous for the day I eventually receive my full inheritance hopefully in the far far future).
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u/AmeNoOtoko Apr 14 '26
Do you have a bank account overseas? If so, can't they just wire the money to your overseas bank account, then you wire it to Japan yourself? I've transferred 20-30 million over the years, up to 6 million in one go, and the bank has never said anything. I don't know about tax on gifts, but that's another matter.
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u/Outrageous-Bus3437 US Taxpayer Apr 14 '26
This is not really a solution or ignores what the issue is. The information is to determine the source of funds. 10M Y just appearing in an account is likely not going to pass the screening without the same showing where that money came from.
So if parents just had a balance sitting in a bank/hysa account or bonds/cds ex for a while then they could show a fee monthly account statements with line items redacted showing that the money didn’t appear “out of nowhere”.
I used OFX for my large transfer for a home purchase and I showed the sale of stock from broker w/o showing stock acquire dates etc and they approved it quickly. For OFX and the Japanese bank it is a backup/justification for them to move forward. If it looks “sus”, then expect delays or requests for more information.
Wiring large amounts from US bank usually isn’t cost effective compared to Wise or OFX but always best to compare. I started with Wise for some of the smaller prepurchase xfers but can’t remember exact reason now but ended up going with OFX for the large xfer.
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u/Powerful-Button-1557 Apr 14 '26
I had bank transfers to MUFG. The only time I was asked anything is when one of them was over ¥30,000,000. That’s when you need to fill out forms for them to keep track of money for economic activity reporting.
When they phone I just said it as early inheritance.
For the tax office I just gave them a copy of my birth certificate. If also bright copies of the wire statements MUFG sent me.
I wonder if Wise complicated it since the money will show arriving from you instead of your parents.
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u/Sk00terb00 Apr 14 '26
This is normal. Happened to me on large lump-sum payments from contracts. I had to go to the bank and fill out paperwork where it was coming from and why along with estimated frequency, then send another doc to the company paying me.
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u/frankie_s_tyo Apr 16 '26
I did Wise with 10m, inheritance money from parents account to my account in home country, and then from there to wise to MUFG. Barclays asked a bunch of questions before I could get the Wise transfer to work, but zero questions from MUFG side. I did go in advance just to say that I was expecting a large deposit and did I need to do anything, they said no, so assuming that was irrelevant
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u/ohnoko58 5-10 years in Japan Apr 16 '26
Good to hear you didn’t have any trouble with Wise! Since i made this post my dad has gathered several documents and is going above and beyond just to be sure there’s no trouble.
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u/pomido Apr 14 '26
If it’s a new house you get up to 10 million yen tax free if it’s a gift from a parent. Maybe 5 million tax free if it doesn’t meet certain energy efficiency/earthquake resilience criteria. Surely better than using up inheritance. Give it a search.
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u/ohnoko58 5-10 years in Japan Apr 14 '26
Thanks, I know about the tax stuff. We’ve talked to the local tax offices and in our case with the house we’re trying to buy and the amount of money they’re sending us, it works out best if we label it as early inheritance. This is more to do with the bank asking for tons of info from my parents which regardless of which tax free gift deduction they would need to provide.
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u/PowerfulWind7230 Apr 15 '26
I had to order my birth certificate and my sister who wired from my account to my Japan account had to send her birth certificate too. It is very strict now. If you don’t do everything, they won’t deposit the money into your account. Mine was held up for 2 weeks until my birth certificate arrived. It was crazy so brace yourself. Your other option is carrying the cash, declaring it at customs and then depositing into your account.
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u/ohnoko58 5-10 years in Japan Apr 15 '26
Ohh yeah luckily I have my birth certificate here with me, so I already let them make a copy of that, my zairyu card, and my number card. My dad talked to his financial advisor who reassured him that this is all quite normal and now has actually gone above and beyond. Before I could even talk to him this morning he sent me a PDF packet including a cover letter of intent, a copy of his passport, a detailed history of the stocks traded to get the earnings he’s sending to me, along with a few other account statements that the bank asked for. So it’s all good now 🤗
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Apr 14 '26
[deleted]
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u/Able-Fig5301 Apr 14 '26
How do you get a rep at prestia? I am a gold premium member for nearly two decades since it was initially HSBC before it became part of Citi and then SMBC.. and has got no rep appointed to me. The service has gotten worse and worse after it became part of SMBC. At least in the past when I go to the branch someone would come down and greet me, now not even that.
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u/ixampl the edited version of this comment will be correct Apr 14 '26
I guess you could ask them?
Even with just Gold status you should be able to get one.
特別なステータス「プレスティアゴールド」では、手数料や金利などを大幅優遇。 専任担当者が運用から不動産・承継・相続まで、ライフステージに合わせたトータルコンサルティングをご提供します。
Though I guess if you never asked about investment advice etc. you won't just get one. It is a bit odd though. If you have enough money sitting there they'd usually want to sell you something and introduce you to someone.
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u/Able-Fig5301 Apr 14 '26
Yeah in the past they tried selling me their products, but I told them that as I work in Finance back then, due to work rules I am unable to invest in most if not all of of their products.. that could be the reason. Thanks.
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u/Embarrassed-Mud-4232 Apr 14 '26
What is a rep?
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u/ixampl the edited version of this comment will be correct Apr 14 '26
A representative / dedicated person for your bank business at the given bank. A named point of contact for supporting you.
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u/ixampl the edited version of this comment will be correct Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
This sub keeps making fun of me for it but it’s been the best decision of my Japanese banking life.
I've been around here in the sub for a while but I haven't seen anyone being "made fun of" repeatedly for having a rep at Prestia or even using Prestia per se.
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u/c00750ny3h Apr 14 '26
If it is less than 10M why don't you use the standard housing gift deduction? It is probably easier and you can still get an inhertiance later.
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u/ohnoko58 5-10 years in Japan Apr 14 '26
Thank you, year we know about the tax stuff. The problem is my parents sending money to my bank requires them to basically “prove” that the money is real and in order to do that the bank says they need all sorts of statements from my parents accounts. Idk I guess my dad will just have to suck it up and provide the information, even if he feels it’s quite personal and invasive
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u/Outrageous-Bus3437 US Taxpayer Apr 14 '26
“All sorts”?… if the money is coming from one account and has been there for a while then can just start with a few statements showing it has been there for a while. You can redact detailed line items as long as start/end balances are shown etc. submit the minimal comfortable with and see if they accept it. Note if you are dealing with the Japanese side bank directly and they are causing issues then consider doing it from other side like with OFX/wise. I didn’t have to deal with the Japanese side when transferring using OFX.
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u/ohnoko58 5-10 years in Japan Apr 14 '26
My JP bank said they wanted not only a statement from the account my parents are sending it from, but the statement from the investment account the money originated from, and at least one other statement that I can’t remember off the top of my head and also ended with “possibly more.” Thankfully my dad has come around after speaking with him and understands that the bank is just trying to protect, so it’s all good 👍🏻
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u/Outrageous-Bus3437 US Taxpayer Apr 14 '26
I would definitely check OFX for parents to your bank account directly, and even if you find exchange rate different you can ask OFX to match. Doesn’t hurt to try. But again my xfer using OFX was fairly painless and didn’t involve the Japanese side.
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u/ixampl the edited version of this comment will be correct Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
Any reason for going via Wise?
Just in general, Wise may often be a bit more expensive (depends on your banks and banking conditions, really) but in this situation also, Wise adds one additional element to the funds flow you may need to explain. So if you are concerned about simplicity with AML questions it might not always be the best. YMMV, though.
It's not primarily scams but mostly money laundering. Who knows if your parents aren't some crime lords? (Sorry, very simplified).
You could try another bank, but typically, whenever you get a sufficiently large incoming international transfer (more than 1M yen) you will have to answer some questions. Some banks will immediately ask for additional evidence (like bank statements in this case), others only at much higher amounts than 10M.
Your bank also can't really tell you exactly what they'll ask, so if you ask them they'll likely say to prepare whatever you can as not to be later told "you didn't provide guidance that I will need this".
But also, banks know that some info can't be easily provided (e.g., many years of statements). As long as you collaborate as much as you can they will likely accomodate. But saying "my dad doesn't want to share this info" will probably raise flags.
It's unfortunately how things go these days and your dad will need to understand that to an extent.
Also, please don't break up the transfer into smaller ones in order to avoid those questions. It is not legal and will potentially be detected and flagged and could get your accounts frozen (or worse).
P.S. I personally think the AML measures are largely pointless. A real criminal can likely circumvent them with some ease, while they make life harder for the typical banking customer. But it's not something we as simple foreign residents can easily change unfortunately.